10. Emasculation

Only recently apparent to me is the frequent theme of emasculation in the noir genre. Emasculation in noir refers to robbing a male of his “manliness” in some degree; either through humiliation or through some means of impotence. Examples: A man can’t provide for his family, he’s beaten or humiliated by some thugs, he loses his livelihood, he can’t land the femme fatale, his health fails, or he literally has his “manhood” taken away (read Sin City: That Yellow Bastard). Often the driving theme of a noir piece is the fear of emasculation, even if it hasn’t occurred yet. In Night and The City, Harry Fabian becomes more and more desperate as he becomes more and more emasculated by his failures to succeed.

If you’re still failing to grasp what I’m referring to, look at Mad Men for example; Don Draper, Pete Campbell, Roger Sterling, and others each have a certain masculine ideal which they subscribe to. For Pete it’s success in the workplace without the aid of others, for Don it’s strength and privacy, for Roger it’s health and sexual conquest, for others it’s something else. Although each man may have a slightly different definition of masculinity, ALL of them fear its loss and panic when it’s endangered. Pete’s marriage suffers when he fails at work, when Don’s secret past rears itself he attempts to flee, and as Roger’s health plummets he weeps like a child; each of them are emasculated by their greatest fears. Thus our noir definition is expanded.

4 responses to “Noir Definition | Emasculation”

I understand and agree with the first paragraph and your description of noir masculinity; but I do not agree with your Mad Men example. Though the three characters you describe are worried about loosing their “glory”, I don’t specifically believe this is tied to their masculinity. This does not fit into what masculinity is for the noir area.

Thank you for the comment but I disagree. Having watched every available episode of Mad Men to date, I cannot part with what I’ve stated previously. The entirety of the show is built on the foundation of gender roles; specifically the domination of the masculine in the workplace following WWII and the Korean War. These men are constantly threatened by not only the situations I described, but by successful women and other men as well. You can see this in the rivalries that develop between Don and Henry Francis (his ex-wife’s new husband) and between Don and Stan Chaugh (a rival creative director). I stand by my analysis.